Le Petit Lieutenant

French director Xavier Beauvois 'œseems hellbent on making the most realistic cop film of all time,' said Michael Atkinson in The Village Voice. The Paris homicide bureau is all coffee, cigarettes, and small talk, according to this police procedural, which builds a story out of seemingly disconnected parts. Actress Nathalie Baye won a César—a French Oscar—for her performance as a jaded supercop who's back on the beat after a bout of alcoholism. She takes a liking to a new recruit named Antoine, guarding him with a combination of motherly and romantic affection. Plot points are sprinkled lightly over the first half of the film, which consists largely of 'œexistential musing,' said Sheri Linden in The Hollywood Reporter. When the first consequential dead body arrives, Antoine views it philosophically, wondering openly how all those organs combine to make a human with the ability to compose beautiful music. In such scenes, the 'œemotional impact quietly accumulates.' If you're expecting CSI: Paris, you'll no doubt be disappointed, said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. But if you allow this gentle drama to lie in wait until its blowout finale, it's quite a satisfying picture. The 'œfinal minute of the movie is one of the most bleak, and moving, endings I've seen in years.'

Rating: Not Rated

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